The CFO of Rockwell Automation Inc. says the company is ready to get back in the acquisition game—and looking to buy companies a further along their journeys than recent purchases were.
Speaking at the recent Wolfe Research 19th Annual Global Transportation & Industrials Conference in London, Christian Rothe outlined a handful of goals Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Rockwell wants to meet on the M&A front.
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Among them is growing in European and Asian markets, where the company booked about $2.5 billion in sales in its fiscal 2025 compared to nearly $5.3 billion in North America. Also on the wish list: Industrial artificial intelligence companies and manufacturers of products that Rockwell’s distributors can add to their lineup.
Rockwell earlier this decade spent more than $3.6 billion to buy more than a dozen businesses. Standing out among those deals were the $2.2 billion purchase of manufacturing service platform Plex in the summer of 2021 and the $566 million buy of Clearpath Robotics Inc. in the fall of 2023.
Rothe told Wolfe event attendees that the acquisitions are “a collection of businesses that we really love” which have nicely rounded out Rockwell’s offerings.
The catch: They “were earlier-stage than what you would normally want” and dragged down Rockwell’s margins. And that, Rothe added, will change with the company’s next round of acquisitions.
